Ex spouses to fight it out in current affairs

Duncan Garner. Photo/Mark Mitchell

Former husband and wife broadcasters Duncan Garner and Mihingarangi Forbes will be competing for current affairs viewers.

Maori Television announced today Forbes will replace Julian Wilcox fronting its flagship current affairs show Native Affairs.

The show has a small but enthusiastic following and will return on March 11.

While the show is focused on Maori current affairs, the appointment means she will be competing against former partner Duncan Garner, who is to present the new TV3 current affairs shows 3rd Degree and The Vote.

Forbes - who started at Maori TV last year has a background in current affairs from her days at Campbell Live - said she was getting additional training for her her new presenting role and hoped to get advice from Wilcox, who is now head of news and current affairs.

One TV news source said that Forbes has a strong journalist credentials, but she might have to address an antagonistic style of interviewing.

Forbes is perhaps best known for her June 2011 interview with Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Alasdair Thompson, whose response to her questioning about women at work led to his being pilloried and his resignation from the position.